Our day began at 3:30am PDT, the earliest we've ever had to rise and shine for a road trip. It was a necessary evil, as we wanted to ensure enough time for a full day at our first destination almost 530 away.

We left our San Juan Capistrano, CA residence at 4:10am PDT and headed south on Interstate 5, doing our familiar transition of I-805 to I-8 and heading east into the California desert. After a breakfast in Yuma, AZ, a transition to Interstate 10, and a few pit stops for gas and restroom breaks, we finally reached Hwy 80 and headed south, arriving in Tombstone, AZ short of 2:00pm MST.

After checking into our hotel, we drove into the town made famous by the 20-second event of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral gun fight. It was rather amusing to see it replicated everywhere you went, in pictures, posters, souvenirs, models (full scale animatronics to model scale), and murals. I honestly had no idea about any of this stuff (history is not my strongest subject), but Dad, being the western novel reader he is, was anxious to see the town he's read so much about, as well as witness the history behind it. At least I walked away learning something, haha.

We managed to catch the final gun fight show of the day at the O.K. Corral and took a glance at all the historic items littered throughout the area. We also caught the what-seemed-to-be-out-of-the-1960s presentation with a revolving model of Tombstone and a movie narrated by Vincent Price. Mildly entertaining. We topped it off by heading to the Epitaph printing station and looking at the printing presses from the late 19th century.

We walked up and down Allen Street, looking for anything worthwhile to buy besides the usual postcard, shotglass, magnet business. Oh yes, and we remembered to head over to the biggun Rose Bush museum. That thing was so huge even my 17mm wide angle lens wouldn't fit it. Once we were done we headed back north to the old Boothill Cemetery where over 250 graves were marked. Although the headstones weren't exactly authentic, they still gave you the low down on who, when, and how. I managed to get some decent shots.

We decided the Longhorn restaurant would be our choice of dining for the evening. Decent meal, decent price. We're good. Long day, and I mean LONG. And tomorrow will be a doozie, too. Stay tuned.

I suppose the day could have started off better. The allegedly "free" breakfast at our hotel was garbage. Instead of the self-serving buffet-style items we're used to, we had to choose five items from a list to be served to us. That wouldn't have been so bad except the service was terrible, the food wasn't hot, and was given to us in random pieces. You got a tiny glass of juice (and refills weren't free). We haven't travelled since the economic downturn hit its hardest so we're wondering if this is the way hotels are shifting? I certainly hope this was just an isolated "free" breakfast policy.

Anyway we headed out and back into Tombstone. We made sure to view the Bird Cage theater and museum since we missed that the previous day. Lots of fascinating stuff inside.

That was pretty much all we had left to do. Down Hwy 80 we raced to the mining town of Bisbee. We briefly walked the streets of old town before crossing the highway to ride the 12:00pm Queen Mine Tour. We donned our slickers and hats before heading 1500 down into the mine, where our guide "Sonny" (who himself was a miner for 21 years) gave us an outstanding overview of how the mines worked. Lots of authentic pieces of machinery were down in the rooms for all to see, even the contraption that miners sat on when they had to "do their duty." I recommend this tour for anyone and everyone!

We barely begun heading further south when sight of the Pit caught our attention. You could see a deep down the side of the road where some serious mining had been going on, with a vat pool of sulfur sitting at the bottom. Pretty deep hole. Pretty impressive, yes.

Douglas, AZ would have been nice to see, but we had a higher priority date. Up Hwy 191 we drove and transitioned over to Hwy 180, which leads to the National Monument of Chiricahua.

I had no idea this place was towering with erosion-induced columns and spires, triggering overall beauty towering around you. It's kind of like a mix between Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah. We headed 8 to the end of the paved road, named Massai Point. Here you can see miles of the rocks that seemed to pop out of the ground. Here we walked the Nature Trail, and visited the exhibit room with 360° panoramic views. After an hour of that we headed down and stopped along the way where notable formations have stood for ages and ages. It's too bad my folks (and probably myself too) didn't have the stamina nor time to visit some of the more prominent features of the park, such as the balancing rocks. Oh well, our eyes got enough of a treat.

We left the park around 5:30pm MST, took Hwy 180 north to I-10, and transitioned once again to Hwy 191, leading us to Safford, AZ where we will rest up and continue in the morning.

Full days all around. My feet hurt. More to come...

Today wasn't quite as hectic as days past, but it was still plenty of driving and doing.

We left Safford at 9:00am MST and headed north on Hwy 70, transitioning to Route 60 somewhere around Globe, AZ. We finally made it to the city I've unintentionally avoided for the last 4 years. And to make sure it was official, we headed straight for the Capitol Building in Phoenix, AZ.

We spent a little longer than planned viewing the 4 floors of the Capitol Museum, as well as the outside grounds in front. Very informative and interesting. We dug it.

Next was a trip to Sun City West, AZ to visit a friend that mom knew from her Y2K trip to Italy. We spent 2 hours there eating and talking it up.

We headed out at 4:00pm using the 101 Loop to I-17 north. Unfortunately spending late Friday afternoon heading away from a major city is never a good idea. We lost 30 minutes to the parking lot on the freeway from merging cars to a 2-lane road. But that didn't stop us from getting to our resort in Oak Creek before sundown.

Oh, and I'm a little worried about one thing. I've been used to the 75 speed limits on the highways, and I was instinctively doing that (maybe a few over) on the 101 north loop after we left Sun City West. It was then I saw a camera off to the side. It was also then I remembered that Arizona has speed cameras (CA does not). It was also then I saw the next posted speed limit sign say 65. *sigh* Crap. Now I'm going to be all paranoid this week. I didn't see any flash from the camera, but this was during the day so I don't know if the flash would have gone off anyway. We do have a rental and I read AZ law about how they have to match up the speed camera photo with the vehicle owner's license photo (and they don't have mine). I don't need another point on my record after the 2007 Escalante, UT fiasco.

Now that we're in the area of our primary destination of Sedona, I may not do updates every night, especially days where we just want to relax. You'll know if something exciting happens.

Saturday (Day 4) was mostly a chill ride-around-town kinda day. We didn't do much except drive to all the scenic points on Hwy 179 south of Sedona and snap the 'ol tourist pics of the rock formations and valleys. I did a small hike to the mid-point of Bell Rock, despite the 95 weather. Soon after we headed a bit north to the famous Chapel in the Rock, as well as the controversial multi-million dollar mansion (complete with observatory) directly below, which we found the owner to be the patent holder of Lasik. It's a sight to behold, no matter which side of the fence you stand.

I took a nice dip in the spa that night and talked to some cool peeps. Good times indeed.

For Sunday (Day 5), the goal was the small vertical town of Jerome and the 44th Annual Home Tour that went along with it. We arrived there about 10:00am MST and bought our tickets in the middle of the town. From there we were shuttled to 10 different points of the tour, most of them being upscale bed-and-breakfast pads, or some other important landmark. Our favorites for the day were the 5-story Victorian Mansion (under construction for the last 15 years and being sold for US$1 million), and the Honeymoon Cottage with fabulous rooms and views. The rest had some history behind it, and were worthy pieces to tour. We ended the day with a walk through downtown before heading back down the mountain.

My feet are killing me. Another 30 minutes in the spa tonight should set things right.

We'll be doing more stuff this week. Keep it right here.

For Monday, our goal was to hit a trio of National Monuments, all within the vicinity of Flagstaff, AZ.

At 9:00am MST we headed up Hwy 89A, never letting off of that number until we reached the turnoff for the Wupatki National Monument, our first stop for the day. There were six different pueblos to explore, and we managed to hit all six, despite the temperature soaring around 95. Luckily each "hike" was no longer than 0.5. Each site had it's own special flair to offer. We liked the Citadel, the one on the top of the hill with 360° panoramic views.

The road luckily connected us up to the next National Monument on our list, Sunset Volcano. As we entered into the park boundaries, those afternoon thunderstorms started rearing their ugly (i.e. beautiful) head. We hit the Lava Rock Trail parking lot and it started raining at a decent pace, but that didn't deter the mom. She took off towards the trail, beckoned by the piles of lava rock. We also started seeing impressive lightning streaks across the valley near the San Francisco Peaks, which of course captured my interest right away. Dad and I waited for a few minutes in the van until the rain subsided, then we joined Mom on the trail. We spent the next hour taking the mile-long loop at the base of the Sunset Volcano. Excellent scenery (and weather) all around.

By the time we were done here, it was almost 5:00pm MST and we were getting tired, so we decided to take National Monument #3 and put it off until the next day. Our feet can only take so much.

On Tuesday we got off to a late start. I was pretty much forced to endure another timeshare presentation for the free week stay we were getting. Of course, I (repeatedly) declined as I'm in house-hunting mode and will already be stretching my income as it is in order to make that happen. I did get a free US$50 VISA card out of it.

As I walked in the door to our resort, we headed right back out to the National Monument we missed yesterday, Walnut Canyon. We arrived a little after 1:00pm MST, and decided between the two trails offered, that we would take the more strenuous one down into the canyon. The weather has been improving (temperature-wise) and was only 78 in the canyon so it wouldn't tire us out. Good enough.

Down the 240 steps (180) to the loop that took you around one of the mountains. Here was a plethora of pueblos built into the hillside, with the overhanging rocks as the main incentive. Great views to behold, and the walk back up wasn't really that bad, since we paced ourselves accordingly.

We headed back into downtown Flagstaff and walked the street of San Francisco, taking a few side streets to see what was around. I took a few pics of the government buildings but that was all. I headed down to the Amtrak station in hopes of seeing some trains, but my timing wasn't quite right. *sigh*

We grabbed some Del Taco for dinner and headed home. The next day should be exciting, and you'll find out why soon enough.

Wednesday was one of our top days to look forward to, and you'll find out why...

We left the resort just before 9:00am MST and headed across the way to the neighboring town of Clarkdale. Our first stop of the day was the Tuzigoot National Monument. Now we've already seen a plethora of pueblos, and this monument just had one. But the difference here is that this one had 110 rooms over 3 stories. We headed around the path detailing each of the areas, and also headed up the stairs to the 3rd-story roof with once-again panoramic views all around. There's never a shortage of photo opportunities.

After heading out from there, we loused around in Clarkdale for a bit before heading to our highlight of the day (and perhaps the entire week) of the Verde Canyon Railroad. We had made 1st-class reservations a few months ago to secure our spot on the "longest running nature show."

Upon reaching the station, we found and entered our "Yuma" car, where a set of couches, a nice table and some snacks awaited us. We had our own bar and buffet along with very nice servers. Right out the door was our viewing car where we had Brandi, who shared her knowledge about the canyon, the river, the structures, and whatever else you had questions about.

We departed shortly after 1:00pm MST and spent the next 2 hours heading northwest to the remote railtown of Perkinsville. Over the route we headed along side the Verde river, which had carved out a nice canyon complete with the accompanying flora, fauna, and formations. We had hoped to see the bald eagles in their nest, but they were out to lunch at the time. Traversing through the 680 tunnel near the end of the route was pretty sweet as well.

We reached Perkinsville shortly before 3:00pm MST and hung out for 15 minutes while they moved the engine to the other side of the cars using an auxiliary track. When that was completed it was time to make the return trip to Clarkdale. We made sure to spot the features that we missed on the way up. We tried to even out our time between the viewing car and our comfy area in the car.

Our journey came to an end at 5:00pm MST as we pulled back into Clarkdale station. That was a pretty good ride I must say. Definitely worth the price, and then some. Our guides/servers were awesome as well. If you're in this area, do it. Do it now!

We headed back and I topped off another night in the hot tub, of course meeting new people since the spa is by itself in an intimate setting. It would be awkward NOT to talk to everyone that was in there. Good times.

All right, this is it, our last full day here in AZ. We figured to fill in the missing cracks before prepping our journey home.

Our first stop of the day was back in Flagstaff. On Tuesday we drove to the Lowell Observatory, but it was in between their hours and wasn't an optimal time, but we made sure to get it in this time.

We caught the 10:00am tour as the guide took us into the old observatory from the late 1800s, complete with the original telescope and the revolving dome. We were also led into the neighboring museum that contained more ancient telescopes, as well as the machine that helped discover Pluto. Awesome stuff.

We were on limited time so we made a quick jog of the exhibits in the main lobby, bought our souvenirs, and headed out in time for the next thing on the agenda.

We arrived at the Riordan Mansion State Park at 11:30am, where we had scheduled a 12:00pm internal tour. We first walked around the outer perimeter of the mansion and got in what pictures we could (since we couldn't take any inside).

Once that was all said and done, we had our tour guide take us inside and spend the next hour showing the old authentic rooms up and downstairs. I think the coolest part was the old 1904 Steinway piano they had in their entertainment hall. Even though the group was not allowed to lean on or touch anything, the guide asked the group if anyone played the piano (which I do) so I had the privilege of getting to play on a 105-year-old Steinway. It was only for about 30 seconds or so, but it was awesome.

The tour ended inside the "West Wing" where there were little exhibits (and other pianos) to look at. We thanked the guide for the great presentation and headed down and out of Flagstaff. This was also the first time it rained pretty hard while on the road.

We stopped in Uptown Sedona on the way back to do another hour's worth of shopping and memorabilia collecting. I was afraid we'd go the whole week without doing this.

I think this was the earliest we got back to our room. We decided on our final "fancy" dinner at the Cucina Rustica, since it was close proximity to our resort. Pretty good Italian food. I recommend it if you're in the Village of Oak Creek.

Looks like that's all she wrote for this trip. I doubt we'll be doing anything special on the return trip home since we have to get our rental van back by 5:00pm PDT. But who knows? There might be something unexpected. Isn't that what makes it fun?

I'll give you the final wrap-up soon...

Nothing too exciting today folks. We left super early (7:30am MST) to make sure we got back in time to return the van rental. But the weather was drizzly-dreary, and the sights of the low-hanging clouds among the rock formations made sure we stopped at all our previous scenery points to take more pictures. I'm glad my SLR and wide-angle lens are weather-resistant, because it was still raining at a pretty good pace while I was out there snapping shots. What I won't do for a Kodak moment.

We took the scenic route out of Sedona, courtesy of Hwy 89A, all the way to I-17 north. It was still raining, in some spots pretty hard, and continued to do so as we transitioned to the I-40 west in Flagstaff. From there we slowly descended from the high altitude forest to the desert floor as we neared the Arizona/California border.

The rest was blue skies and mild-to-warm weather as we connected to the I-15 in Barstow, and then to our grid of highways that got us home, albeit with some lovely Memorial Day traffic near the end, delaying our end destination until 4:15pm PDT.

Stats will be coming up. Oh, and I literally took over 1,000 pics so I have to choose the best 60 for y'all to see. I'll probably get it all posted this weekend sometime...

Good to be out, but good to be home too.

We're back at the fort, with a semi-full report.

This was not our "official" annual road trip for the year, although it certainly felt like one. Getting to stay in one place for a week and yo-yo out from there really allows you to explore the immediate vicinity in detail, which is in sharp contrast to traveling in one direction the entire time.

Favorites: Hmm, well if I had to pick one, I suppose it would be the Verde Canyon Railroad train ride. I think it was that much better because we sprung for 1st-class tickets instead of coach. If you don't like sitting on soft couches, getting a buffet meal or being served drinky drinks, then by all means go for the coach price. Honorable mentions are the Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee, and the lightning show in and around Sunset Crater Volcano NM.

Least Desirables: I really don't have much to complain about here. The Best Western in Tombstone could have had better breakfast accommodations. It's almost better to go into town and get a worthy breakfast. And while all the Indian pueblo ruins were cool, once you've seen a few types, you've seen them all. (We saw probably 20 or more over the course of the trip.) It was starting to get redundant after a while.

Statistics:

Total stops: 18
States Visited: California, Arizona
National Monuments visited: Chiricahua, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, Tuzigoot
State Parks Visited: Riordan Mansion

Rental: 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan
Efficiency: 22.34

Total cost of trip (estimated): US$868 (my share of hotels/resort, van rental, gas, food, train ride, and souvenirs)